SFL Clubs Agree on 42 Club SPL Merger

Clubs in the Scottish Football League (SFL) have unanimously agreed on restructuring the league which could include a 42-club merger with the Scottish Premier League (SPL).

The 42-club proposal was backed by all 30 clubs at a meeting in Hampden, which was attended by associate member Rangers who cannot vote.

SPL clubs previously agreed revised plans which would merge the organisation and a 12-10-10-10 structure.

The SFL have now put forward an alternative governance model ahead of a meeting on Monday.

Chief executive David Longmuir said: “We are most definitely willing to continue with a 42-club solution to the league reconstruction process.

“We are going to work hard to bring this to fruition as quickly as we possibly can in the hope that what we deliver benefits the whole game in Scotland.

“There are a number of things that we got unanimity on today. We are going to initiate a process of due diligence to ensure we get to a place where we have a proper health check on any merged organisation to ensure there are no surprises.

“We agreed that the recommended financial distribution model that the SFL put to the SPL this week is going to take us forward and we got unanimous agreement that that was the will of the clubs.

“I know Neil Doncaster is putting it to his clubs on Monday and I hope that they look upon it as being a fair and appropriate way to spread what wealth we’ve got in the game.

“On governance, the initial governance model that was proposed, and seems still to be the favoured governance model, is not one that we wish to pursue.

“The governance model that the clubs, in unanimous fashion agreed to support, was the one that I previously put to the SPL, which is a 3-1-1-1 governance model, as opposed to a 3-2-1 governance model.

“This is a marvellous opportunity for everybody to get behind it. We are not far away.”